I found an interesting article about adults reading young adult fiction via @DonalynBooks and @TheReadingZone on Twitter. The Courier-Journal.com article by Erin Keane says "Young adult fiction's appeal has grown way beyond the school library. What was once considered entertainment for kids has become big business for adults, who are increasingly turning to the children's section for their own reading pleasure, according to publishing experts."

As for what teens themselves enjoy reading, Publisher's Weekly recently published the results of a TeenReads.com survey about teens' reading habits. See Carol Fitzgerald's article for details. Roger Suttoncomments at Read Roger that "The most interesting statistic of this teen reading survey concerns who responded to it: "while we purposely marketed the survey to attract male readers, females are the vast majority (96%) of responders.""

In other news about teen readers, Becky Levine shares a lovely story about boys excited for a book signing by Eoin Colfer. She says: "I hear SO much about boys not liking books, about losing boys from reading as they get into their teens. I watch my son and, too often, see him as the exception–myself as the lucky parent who gets to keep sharing this with her son. Last night, I realized he’s not the exception and neither am I. Write for the boys, folks. They’re here, and they’re starving for more books to read, more books that show them why they want to write, too."

My blog was included in recent lists of 101 Book Blogs You Need to Read and 100 Best Book Blogs for Kids, Tweens, and Teens by Online Universities. I especially liked the second list, because lots of my blogging friends are on it, too. Both lists are diverse, classified, and annotated. Although, as you know, I'm not a huge fan of "bests" in reference to blogs, I am happy to be in such good company.

Speaking of Betsy Bird and of Amazon, Betsy provoked quite a controversy recently when she asked some pointed questions about Amazon's Vine reviewer program. She said things like "the Vine reviewers are sometimes not the best representative readers for books that are a little different" and "The difference being that you can rely on a professional reviewer to give insightful commentary and acknowledge a book's intended audience, and you can determine whether or not a blog reviewer is the kind of person you want looking over your product. And you don't even have to pay us. The Vine folks, by contrast, are not professional reviewers and yet they enjoy a newfound #1 status of sorts." The comments about "professional reviewers" vs. not seem to have caused the most sting for people. Me, I tried the Vine program very briefly, and didn't like it. I didn't like the idea of having to review books I was lukewarm about in order to receive more books (though I can see that requiring a certain number of reviews is necessary for this type of program). But I think that Betsy raises some issues worth thinking about. See also Kate Messner's take.

Colleen Mondor took on this Vine controversy at Chasing Ray, tied it in with two other recent conflicts, and noted one alarming overall issue that connects the three. She says: "I wanted to point this all out to emphasize the many small ways in which book choice is constantly under attack. It's not just banning that is a problem, in some ways that is the least of our problems because at least it is obvious. We know who to fight and when. The removal of choice in places big and small is insidious however and it's easy to lose sight of but we need to be thinking about it and doing what we can to combat it all the time." The comments there, though not as extensive as the ones at Betsy's, are similarly mixed.

Liz Bpoints out at Tea Cozy one more must-read article about the FTC Guidelines for Bloggers. Olgy Gary typed up a detailed transcript of Mary Engle's session at KidLitCon, and then sent it to Mary for editing/approval. The result is an sanctioned transcript of the discussion - well worth your time. You can find it at Olgy's Children Come First website. Olgy, a first-time attendee to KidLitCon, is clearly going to be an asset to the Kidlitosphere. Also at Tea Cozy, Liz highlights Cynthia Leitich Smith's blog, Cynsations, in the latest of her Kidlitosphere profile features.

I'd like to offer a fond blogging farewell to Eisha from Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast. after co-founding 7-Imp with Jules (who will still be blogging there), Eisha has decided to move on to pursue other interests. I'm glad that she's found other things to interest her, but she'll certainly be missed in the Kidlitosphere. See also Tanita Davis' farewell to Eisha at Finding Wonderland.

I found an interesting article about adults reading young adult fiction via @DonalynBooks and @TheReadingZone on Twitter. The Courier-Journal.com article by Erin Keane says "Young adult fiction's appeal has grown way beyond the school library. What was once considered entertainment for kids has become big business for adults, who are increasingly turning to the children's section for their own reading pleasure, according to publishing experts."

As for what teens themselves enjoy reading, Publisher's Weekly recently published the results of a TeenReads.com survey about teens' reading habits. See Carol Fitzgerald's article for details. Roger Suttoncomments at Read Roger that "The most interesting statistic of this teen reading survey concerns who responded to it: "while we purposely marketed the survey to attract male readers, females are the vast majority (96%) of responders.""

In other news about teen readers, Becky Levine shares a lovely story about boys excited for a book signing by Eoin Colfer. She says: "I hear SO much about boys not liking books, about losing boys from reading as they get into their teens. I watch my son and, too often, see him as the exception–myself as the lucky parent who gets to keep sharing this with her son. Last night, I realized he’s not the exception and neither am I. Write for the boys, folks. They’re here, and they’re starving for more books to read, more books that show them why they want to write, too."

My blog was included in recent lists of 101 Book Blogs You Need to Read and 100 Best Book Blogs for Kids, Tweens, and Teens by Online Universities. I especially liked the second list, because lots of my blogging friends are on it, too. Both lists are diverse, classified, and annotated. Although, as you know, I'm not a huge fan of "bests" in reference to blogs, I am happy to be in such good company.

Speaking of Betsy Bird and of Amazon, Betsy provoked quite a controversy recently when she asked some pointed questions about Amazon's Vine reviewer program. She said things like "the Vine reviewers are sometimes not the best representative readers for books that are a little different" and "The difference being that you can rely on a professional reviewer to give insightful commentary and acknowledge a book's intended audience, and you can determine whether or not a blog reviewer is the kind of person you want looking over your product. And you don't even have to pay us. The Vine folks, by contrast, are not professional reviewers and yet they enjoy a newfound #1 status of sorts." The comments about "professional reviewers" vs. not seem to have caused the most sting for people. Me, I tried the Vine program very briefly, and didn't like it. I didn't like the idea of having to review books I was lukewarm about in order to receive more books (though I can see that requiring a certain number of reviews is necessary for this type of program). But I think that Betsy raises some issues worth thinking about. See also Kate Messner's take.

Colleen Mondor took on this Vine controversy at Chasing Ray, tied it in with two other recent conflicts, and noted one alarming overall issue that connects the three. She says: "I wanted to point this all out to emphasize the many small ways in which book choice is constantly under attack. It's not just banning that is a problem, in some ways that is the least of our problems because at least it is obvious. We know who to fight and when. The removal of choice in places big and small is insidious however and it's easy to lose sight of but we need to be thinking about it and doing what we can to combat it all the time." The comments there, though not as extensive as the ones at Betsy's, are similarly mixed.

Liz Bpoints out at Tea Cozy one more must-read article about the FTC Guidelines for Bloggers. Olgy Gary typed up a detailed transcript of Mary Engle's session at KidLitCon, and then sent it to Mary for editing/approval. The result is an sanctioned transcript of the discussion - well worth your time. You can find it at Olgy's Children Come First website. Olgy, a first-time attendee to KidLitCon, is clearly going to be an asset to the Kidlitosphere. Also at Tea Cozy, Liz highlights Cynthia Leitich Smith's blog, Cynsations, in the latest of her Kidlitosphere profile features.

I'd like to offer a fond blogging farewell to Eisha from Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast. after co-founding 7-Imp with Jules (who will still be blogging there), Eisha has decided to move on to pursue other interests. I'm glad that she's found other things to interest her, but she'll certainly be missed in the Kidlitosphere. See also Tanita Davis' farewell to Eisha at Finding Wonderland.

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All posts on this site are (c) 2006-2015 by Jennifer Robinson. All rights reserved. I also specifically reserve the right to delete comments made on this blog for any reason, particularly if they contain blatantly commercial or offensive language, and/or do not contribute to the discussion at hand. I reserve the right to delete promotional material included within the text of comments.